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Disappointed with how his qualifiers started, Hamilton went on to say he that came as close as he could have to the perfect lap: "I got a bit out of shape during my first run in Q3; I ran a bit wide at Turn Eight and oversteered onto the marbles, which put me on the wrong line for Turn Nine and left me cleaning my tyres for the rest of the lap.

"But I pulled it all together for my final attempt - and it was as close as I could get to a perfect lap."

Sitting five points behind Hamilton and third in tomorrow's starting line-up Felipe Massa is confident he can still challenge for the title.

"We just need to do our best, but I'm confident I can fight for the victory tomorrow," he said.

"I can't deny I'm a bit disappointed with this qualifying: starting from the front is always important even if the race is very long, but I will do my utmost to get a great result.

Today, it was hard to find the right balance for the car, especially in Q3. Tomorrow, things could change as the car has shown it is good over a long run.

"We will have to attack to make up positions and we believe we have a good race strategy. Sure, our competitors went well and will be very competitive: let's hope we are more competitive than they are!"